The present invention relates to hair care and more particularly to a new and improved device for styling and shaping a person""s hair.
For centuries men and women have endeavored to style their hair in many different fashions and many devices to aid such styling have been available. Recent examples of such devices include barrettes or clips which are worn in the hair to establish and maintain a hair style (See: U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,870 (1995), U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,267 (1998), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,159 (2000)).
Another approach to the styling of hair has been to form and lock the hair into a preselected style while it is wet and thereafter to remove the locking devices utilized in the styling process when the hair has dried. A similar approach is used when a chemical substance is used to achieve a more lasting curl or wave in hair which naturally has no curl, i.e. the so-called xe2x80x9cpermanent wavexe2x80x9d. For years, the primary option for setting hair to form waves or curls has been to form or roll the hair around cylindrical forms or xe2x80x9ccurlersxe2x80x9d. The use of curlers limits the flexibility of styles, can be very time consuming, can make hair difficult to dry, and usually involves a multiplicity of such devices to hold all of a person""s hair in place while it is in the process of drying and setting. When hair is wrapped around devices which are cylindrical in shape, the hair tends to fall in a spiral when the device is removed which may or may not be the desired effect. Further, hair styled in this manner tends to have a fluffy look when the devices are removed. Recent attempts to address the problem of holding the hair while it is being styled are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,040 (1995), U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,455 (1998), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,791 (2000). These devices provide a means for holding a plurality of strands in a roll during the process of styling the hair. The hairstyle which these devices produce is very similar to that which is produced using cylindrical forms or curlers. None of these devices provide a simple means for achieving flexibility in the hairstyle produced.
Further, in recent years the high cost of personal services has made the public more aware of the need to provide devices which can enable persons to effectively style their own hair, preferably without assistance. Another desiratum is to provide a device which can be readily used by a person lacking flexibility in his or her hands because of diseases such as arthritis or like muscular diseases so that they can readily place the multiple curlers into their hair to achieve the desired styling of that hair. Likewise, most hair styling devices available today are nearly impossible to use by a person who has an impairment in the use of his or her hands or arms due to accident.
Thus, as will appear, the present invention fulfills a long time need for a simple device to enable an individual to style their own hair regardless of condition of the hair. Further, the present invention is useable by a person having a disability which otherwise limits his or her ability to fully use both hands and arms in the styling of their hair.
The invention is a device which can be used to produce a wide range of hairstyles very simply, and using a limited amount of styling equipment. The invention provides for maximum circulation of air during natural drying of the hair or while using a hair dryer to dry the hair.
The device is an easy to use styling form for the hair which creates a multiple of curls or waves at the same time. Further, the device is complete in itself and does not require additional pins or clips to hold the hair in place. The device can be held and inserted into a person""s hair using only one hand.
The device consists of two hinged sides opposing one another with the hair to be styled disposed between the opposing sides when the device is closed. Wet hair to be styled is placed between the opposing sides when the device is in an open position. The sides are then rotated to a closed position and maintained in the closed position until the hair has dried. The device is then opened and removed from the newly styled hair. The form of the opposing sides of the device controls the hairstyle achieved. The device creates a plurality of curls in the hair with a single insertion, thereby greatly reducing the time required for styling the hair.
The device facilitates the effective, fast, convenient, self contained, and versatile styling of a person""s hair. Accordingly, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a simple device for styling a person""s hair which is not limited to a single style. It is a further object of the invention to provide a device which can be used by a person having a limitation in the dexterity of his or her hands and arms to style their own hair.
These and further objects, as shall hereafter appear, are readily fulfilled by the present invention in a remarkably unexpected manner as will be readily discerned from the following detailed description of an exemplary embodiment thereof especially when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like parts bear like numerals throughout.